In response to the question Why won’t Louise Haigh use the word ‘England’?’ a BlueSky user suggested that she doesn’t talk about England because the ‘far-right have co-opted the idea of English Nationalism’.
Well, the same might be said about British nationalism (some might add Reform UK to this diagram) and Haigh doesn’t seem to have any problem talking about Britain and using the Union Flag.
The claim that the right or far-right have ownership of England’s symbols, the English narrative or English nationalism is an oft-heard trope. The far-right has not taken ownership of these things, it is the left and centre that has abandoned them to the right. The difference between English nationalism and British nationalism does not lie in how attractive the far-right see them, it lies in the fact that mainstream politicians fly the British flag and articulate a plural, multicultural Britishness that prevents a far-right monopolisation of Britishness. The same isn’t done for English national identity.
England has no champion. No leader. No one to to celebrate its successes as an inclusive, liberal society and no one to consider its failures. In the absence of an English parliament, English government and first minister, and with all our politicians obsessing over Britishness and the Union, England has to rely on a football manager to be the voice for an inclusive, modern English identity.
It should be noted that support for an English parliament support comes from across the political spectrum, not just the right.
None of this is to say that we shouldn’t be on our guard. There is a simmering resentment in England in particular that presents an opportunity to the far-right: Voters in Scotland ‘not as angry’ as the English
Some 60% of voters in England are enraged by politics, but Scots are more optimistic about the future and less nostalgic for a rosy past.
This anger is in part fuelled by the perception that England and the English get a raw deal. England alone lacks its own democracy and political institutions. While Scottish and Welsh voters have two voices to shout for them, one at Westminster and one at Holyrood or the Senedd, the English only have one (often one with an inability to actually say England or talk about England in a positive light). England is a nation unimagined, there is no political vision for England. And while the Scots and Welsh have a proportional element to their national parliaments, the English only have Westminster’s first past the post system, leaving many to feel that their vote is worthless. England receives the least funding per head and austerity hit harder in England (Austerity cuts ‘twice as deep’ in England as rest of Britain), decimating our public services. This hollowing out of public sphere, the feeling that you are discriminated against and disenfranchised, the lack of national voice and representation is precisely what the far-right feeds on.
Democracy in England is failing and we need to do something about it. Now. We will not achieve anything by refusing to mention or talk about England.
English Commonwealth 